Quick reminder on quick defrosting

[Tab]

Mentioned this a few years ago...

If you want to defrost something quick (well, quick-er), get a very heavy metal pan - cast iron, Le Creuset, something like that, and put the frozen food on it. That's all.

The heavy metal acts as a heat sink and will disippate the cold (or rather, transfer the heat) much more quickly than if you just put it in its package or on a plate.

Years ago someone tried to sell on TV a "magic defroster" but it was really nothing more than a heat sink, and most of us here have some kind of heavy pan that would work. If it has good heat transfer, you're golden. Thinner stainless steel pans won't work. Probably better than nothing, but nothing like using a good Le Creuset skillet or cast iron pan.

- Tab

[cbayer]

1. I have a big griddle on the back of my stovetop and it works great!

I remember those commercials and thought, "What a scam!".

Great advice.

:hi:

[Lucinda]

2. Thanks! That's very good info!

:hi:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. That's what the microwave is for

I can't remember the last time I left something out to defrost. The microwave does a peachy job.

[Tab]

4. Except that it often cooks your item

For instance, poultry or hamburger, if you're not extremely perfect at it, you get cooked, and tough, meat as a result.

Nothing against a microwave, just suggesting a non-destructive alternative.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. Oh, yeah, you're right...................

As a young bride, I remember how it was imperative to take something out of the freezer in the morning, or else dinner at night was, well, problematic.

I always under-thaw with the microwave, having learned that the hard way with some chicken. No harm done, but an object lesson.

For someone impulsive, such as I, the microwave is a life-changing experience, and always will be. How did we ever get along without them?

[pengillian101]

6. How did we ever get along without them?

Well as a young bride in 1971, I had the opportunity to have one of the first microwave ovens. We bought it used for $50 from some sap who paid $$$.

Heck, we never got use of it either. A hot dog in seconds was the claim to fame in 1971.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

7. 1971???????

We married in 1969. And you had a microwave in 1971?????????

I didn't even KNOW about microwaves until I went to work for an airline. In 1978.

Five hundred bucks for my first microwave, as I recall. Oy.

[pengillian101]

8. Just my recall...

We married in 1971 and lived upstairs in a duplex and had the microwave. It wasn't brand spanking new. It might have been 1972 or 1973.

Nobody knew any good ways to cook in it. Pretty much like now -- just RE-HEAT. Oh wait, it does do great popcorn.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. I still don't know

any good ways to "cook" in it.

It's a heating device. You're right about popcorn. Remember when that was a big project?

Hell, in 1971, I was still discovering dishwashers.

Life was hard back then.

And t-bones were $1.29 a pound......................

[pengillian101]

11. Hell, in 1971, I was still discovering dishwashers.

Hell, in 1971, I was still discovering dishwashers.

Life was hard back then.

And t-bones were $1.29 a pound......................


Ha! I never had a dishwasher until fairly recently, lol.

I recall a rich family friend had one - that was quite the deal!

[csziggy]

12. When I was a kid we had the only dishwasher in the neighborhood

Not because we were well to do - we weren't - but because Mom was allergic to detergent. So Dad scrounged a weird old dishwasher from somewhere and installed it. It was the strangest appliance - the top opened and you had to reach down through the middle to load dishes in the lower rack. I've never seen another one like it.

[TreasonousBastard]

13. When I was a kid back in the 60s we had one...

like that, although nobody remembers who made it.

It was portable and had wheels so you could roll it to the dinner table and load it up, but nobody did that. You did have to plug it in and hook up a hose to the faucet when using it-- and don't EVER forget to put the drain hose in the sink.

(Damn thing blew fuses like crazy, though, until we had the house rewired.)

[csziggy]

14. Ours was permanently mounted but it may have started out as a "portable"

No telling the way Dad would scrounge and re-purpose stuff.

[AwakeAtLast]

9. This is what I have done in the past

I turn on the oven to about 200, once it preheats turn it off, then set the frozen item inside. Nothing gets cooked, but it thaws much faster. Next time I do that I will put inside something really heavy!